U.S. retail sales down 0.4 percent in January

WASHINGTON – Cold weather across much of the nation contributed to a drop in retail sales in January.

Americans spent less on autos and clothes and at restaurants – a decline that suggests momentum from consumer spending at the end of 2013 has tailed off.

The Commerce Department said Thursday retail sales fell a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent last month. That marked the second straight decline after a 0.1 percent drop in December.

Freezing cold and heavy snowfall raked much of the U.S., cutting into store traffic and weighing on post-holiday sales. Major store chains have reduced their profit outlooks, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest retailer.

Prospects for economic growth could remain lackluster for February, too, after snowstorms blanketed almost a third of the nation Thursday. The storm overlaps this week with a government survey that’s being used to calculate the February jobs report.

“It’s quite possible that we have to brace ourselves for another soft jobs report,” said Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets. “That’s due to the snow.”

Economic slowdowns caused by winter weather usually lead to stronger growth once temperatures rise again. But the repeated battering of snowstorms this winter means that waiters, limousine drivers and other hourly workers might never recoup their lost wages later this year, said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial.

“You disrupted incomes for some people permanently,” Swonk said.

She estimates that economic growth during the first three months of this year will be “well below” a 2 percent annual rate – a steep drop-off from the 3.2 percent rate in the final quarter of 2013.

The retail sales report is the first look at last month’s consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of all economic activity. Many economists had predicted that stronger consumer spending this year would cause growth to accelerate.

But along with falling retail sales, several economic reports indicate that growth may have slowed.

Factories received fewer orders last month. The number of Americans who have signed contracts to buy homes has plummeted to its lowest level in more than two years.

And the past two monthly job reports were sluggish. Only 113,000 workers were added in January. That’s slightly better than the 75,000 jobs for December. But combined, it’s about half the pace of average monthly job gains over the past two years.

There are also signs that the momentum at the end of last year was weaker than initially thought.

Retail sales for December were revised downward in Thursday’s report. What was initially a 0.2 percent gain turned into a 0.1 percent loss. Some economists suggested that growth during the October-December quarter would be revised down slightly from its initial 3.2 percent annualized increase.